Hello Kermit,
Sorry about your blanket!  I had a similar experience (embarrassed to admit multiple times) on a little bit more frustrating level which may be important to the Case.  The Columbia River water height can change dramatically with no change in tide, rain or release from Bonneville.  Anyone want to guess how?
I would beach my boat and tie off to the nearest tree.  Then head upstream a few hundred yards to Duck hunt.  Only to come back and find my boat honest to god 6 feet up the bank completely out of water in the dry sand.  Not a good day and so the digging would begin and after some time I was able to manipulate the boat back into flowing water.  This would happen as a result of a large barge or ship coming by and greatly displacing the water pushing It 6 feet (or even more) to each side of the bank and immediately receding leaving many small objects high and dry.

Welcome Trapper, local knowledge is always a huge help.

Experiments show bundles of money only stay afloat for about 15 minutes or so (Kaye) before sinking. Maybe the entire bag of money would stay afloat longer (experiment needed). So I would say it's still unlikely the money could have been delivered by the river itself (except in R99's very narrow theory).

What would be great is if you could give us examples of debris you've found on the sand bars in the Columbia. What kind of stuff washes up on shore.

Tides can change the flow, but this IMO isn't enough to gain more than what would be lost in the natural flow of the river. similar things happen down here on the intracoastal, or any river, tributary leading to the ocean. reverse flow can be greater in the first 40 miles.

you have a 20+ lb bag (dry) on the bottom of the river, not the top, so displacement wouldn't be an issue either. is it possible, I'm not sure....tides affect a lot of things, I'm just not sure they are strong enough this far down..

Tides can change the flow, but this IMO isn't enough to gain more than what would be lost in the natural flow of the river. similar things happen down here on the intracoastal, or any river, tributary leading to the ocean. reverse flow can be greater in the first 40 miles.

you have a 20+ lb bag (dry) on the bottom of the river, not the top, so displacement wouldn't be an issue either. is it possible, I'm not sure....tides affect a lot of things, I'm just not sure they are strong enough this far down..

Trapper, Welcome to the Cooper site (I neglected to mention that in my reply to your first post on another thread).  Let me also confess up front that I can be an opinionated PIA at times, and that is just one of my finer points, but don't take that personally.   I have several questions and observations:

1.  Do you know of a source for the Columbia River water levels at the Vancouver gage (which is located on the Vancouver, WA side of the river and a few hundred feet east of the I-5 bridge) for the period November 1, 1971 to October 31, 1972?  Water levels for the period from about October 1, 1972 to the 1980 money find date are available from the US Army Corps of Engineers and are in hand.  Did the Portland/Vancouver newspapers carry the water level information in the early 1970s?

2.  Information on US Government topographical charts for the Portland/Vancouver area state that the typical daily tidal variation in that area is only about 1 to 2 feet.  The typical water level in that area is only about 5 feet Above Sea Level and the river miles to the Pacific are about 100.  So typically the Columbia River water level only descends about 1 foot for ever 20 river miles.  Compare that to the Mississippi River descending about 1 foot per river mile on the average between Minneapolis and the Gulf of Mexico.  Thus, the Columbia River is not a raging torrent.

3.  The money that was found at Tina Bar in February 1980 was several feet above the river water level (including the tidal level).  Based on "how the money got from the airliner to Tina Bar" theories, I personally do not buy the dredging idea.  Also, I don't believe there was any direct human intervention in getting the money to Tina Bar.  That leaves only natural means and the topographical considerations for the Tina Bar area weigh heavily on this matter.  But I have written at length on this elsewhere and will not repeat the arguments here.

4.  I hope that everyone agrees that the money and Cooper must have landed somewhere between the airliner's flight path (or track over the ground) and, if Cooper had an open parachute, a few miles downwind from that track over the ground.

To repeat, I look forward to reading your posts.     

Welcome Trapper, local knowledge is always a huge help.

Experiments show bundles of money only stay afloat for about 15 minutes or so (Kaye) before sinking. Maybe the entire bag of money would stay afloat longer (experiment needed). So I would say it's still unlikely the money could have been delivered by the river itself (except in R99's very narrow theory).

What would be great is if you could give us examples of debris you've found on the sand bars in the Columbia. What kind of stuff washes up on shore.

Debris found or witnessed floating that I can recall:
Styrofoam, Corkies, Floatable fishing lures, Plastic gas containers, 5 gallon buckets, Clothing of multiple sorts i.e.: jackets & shirts, plastic jugs of all types, waffled cardboard, half a canoe (not sure what happened there other than somebody had a bad day), logs, milled timber, baseball caps, garbage bags a lawn chair and no kidding a female mannequin are some of the items that come to mind.
Debris found on the beach:
You name it!
I’m painting this horrible picture of the Columbia River and its surrounding bodies of water as being on big cesspool.  Which couldn’t be further from the truth.  It’s actually a beautiful river and area.  However as with any water way that runs thru or near a large city it picks up its fair share of trash.  Remember I was on the water some days for up to 12 hours so you’re bound to see things.

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Tides can change the flow, but this IMO isn't enough to gain more than what would be lost in the natural flow of the river. similar things happen down here on the intracoastal, or any river, tributary leading to the ocean. reverse flow can be greater in the first 40 miles.

you have a 20+ lb bag (dry) on the bottom of the river, not the top, so displacement wouldn't be an issue either. is it possible, I'm not sure....tides affect a lot of things, I'm just not sure they are strong enough this far down..

Trapper, Welcome to the Cooper site (I neglected to mention that in my reply to your first post on another thread).  Let me also confess up front that I can be an opinionated PIA at times, and that is just one of my finer points, but don't take that personally.   I have several questions and observations:

1.  Do you know of a source for the Columbia River water levels at the Vancouver gage (which is located on the Vancouver, WA side of the river and a few hundred feet east of the I-5 bridge) for the period November 1, 1971 to October 31, 1972?  Water levels for the period from about October 1, 1972 to the 1980 money find date are available from the US Army Corps of Engineers and are in hand.  Did the Portland/Vancouver newspapers carry the water level information in the early 1970s?

2.  Information on US Government topographical charts for the Portland/Vancouver area state that the typical daily tidal variation in that area is only about 1 to 2 feet.  The typical water level in that area is only about 5 feet Above Sea Level and the river miles to the Pacific are about 100.  So typically the Columbia River water level only descends about 1 foot for ever 20 river miles.  Compare that to the Mississippi River descending about 1 foot per river mile on the average between Minneapolis and the Gulf of Mexico.  Thus, the Columbia River is not a raging torrent.

3.  The money that was found at Tina Bar in February 1980 was several feet above the river water level (including the tidal level).  Based on "how the money got from the airliner to Tina Bar" theories, I personally do not buy the dredging idea.  Also, I don't believe there was any direct human intervention in getting the money to Tina Bar.  That leaves only natural means and the topographical considerations for the Tina Bar area weigh heavily on this matter.  But I have written at length on this elsewhere and will not repeat the arguments here.

4.  I hope that everyone agrees that the money and Cooper must have landed somewhere between the airliner's flight path (or track over the ground) and, if Cooper had an open parachute, a few miles downwind from that track over the ground.

To repeat, I look forward to reading your posts.     

Hello Robert99,
No sweat on the PIA as my wife seems to have the same opinion about me from time to time.  The reality is I’m most likely out of my league with many of you folks as your research greatly exceeds mine and I enjoy reading it.  The one advantage I may have is the amount of time I have in and around the area’s in question.  I realize you folks have taken many trips to Tina / Tena bar but 5, 6, 7, 8… trips is far different from hundreds upon hundreds of hours watching the river and hunting the grounds nearby
 I only noticed one question in your post which was do I know of a source for water levels at the Vancouver Gage in 1970.  I do not.  My tidal reference comes from the following website:

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From reading your post’s over the years I agree with you on the vast majority of this case.   I think the only difference of opinion is that I believe Natural Means could have brought the money in the vicinity of the Tina Bar / Dredging area.  And I believe it could have come from the tributaries I listed based on my experience.

Now I can assert this all day long but the reality is I need to put-up or shut up by conducting some tests.

You had also mentioned the money find was above the river level / tidal influence.  In a reply to Kermit I mentioned how the River with no change in rain, water release (from Bonneville) or tide increase could move things horizontally along the banks well above the river level for that day.

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You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Tides can change the flow, but this IMO isn't enough to gain more than what would be lost in the natural flow of the river. similar things happen down here on the intracoastal, or any river, tributary leading to the ocean. reverse flow can be greater in the first 40 miles.

you have a 20+ lb bag (dry) on the bottom of the river, not the top, so displacement wouldn't be an issue either. is it possible, I'm not sure....tides affect a lot of things, I'm just not sure they are strong enough this far down..

Trapper, Welcome to the Cooper site (I neglected to mention that in my reply to your first post on another thread).  Let me also confess up front that I can be an opinionated PIA at times, and that is just one of my finer points, but don't take that personally.   I have several questions and observations:

1.  Do you know of a source for the Columbia River water levels at the Vancouver gage (which is located on the Vancouver, WA side of the river and a few hundred feet east of the I-5 bridge) for the period November 1, 1971 to October 31, 1972?  Water levels for the period from about October 1, 1972 to the 1980 money find date are available from the US Army Corps of Engineers and are in hand.  Did the Portland/Vancouver newspapers carry the water level information in the early 1970s?

2.  Information on US Government topographical charts for the Portland/Vancouver area state that the typical daily tidal variation in that area is only about 1 to 2 feet.  The typical water level in that area is only about 5 feet Above Sea Level and the river miles to the Pacific are about 100.  So typically the Columbia River water level only descends about 1 foot for ever 20 river miles.  Compare that to the Mississippi River descending about 1 foot per river mile on the average between Minneapolis and the Gulf of Mexico.  Thus, the Columbia River is not a raging torrent.

3.  The money that was found at Tina Bar in February 1980 was several feet above the river water level (including the tidal level).  Based on "how the money got from the airliner to Tina Bar" theories, I personally do not buy the dredging idea.  Also, I don't believe there was any direct human intervention in getting the money to Tina Bar.  That leaves only natural means and the topographical considerations for the Tina Bar area weigh heavily on this matter.  But I have written at length on this elsewhere and will not repeat the arguments here.

4.  I hope that everyone agrees that the money and Cooper must have landed somewhere between the airliner's flight path (or track over the ground) and, if Cooper had an open parachute, a few miles downwind from that track over the ground.

To repeat, I look forward to reading your posts.     

Hello Robert99,
No sweat on the PIA as my wife seems to have the same opinion about me from time to time.  The reality is I’m most likely out of my league with many of you folks as your research greatly exceeds mine and I enjoy reading it.  The one advantage I may have is the amount of time I have in and around the area’s in question.  I realize you folks have taken many trips to Tina / Tena bar but 5, 6, 7, 8… trips is far different from hundreds upon hundreds of hours watching the river and hunting the grounds nearby
 I only noticed one question in your post which was do I know of a source for water levels at the Vancouver Gage in 1970.  I do not.  My tidal reference comes from the following website:

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

From reading your post’s over the years I agree with you on the vast majority of this case.   I think the only difference of opinion is that I believe Natural Means could have brought the money in the vicinity of the Tina Bar / Dredging area.  And I believe it could have come from the tributaries I listed based on my experience.

Now I can assert this all day long but the reality is I need to put-up or shut up by conducting some tests.

You had also mentioned the money find was above the river level / tidal influence.  In a reply to Kermit I mentioned how the River with no change in rain, water release (from Bonneville) or tide increase could move things horizontally along the banks well above the river level for that day.

Missed your history so how many years have you had experience with the Columbia ... back to 1971? In the Tina Bar area?

5 years from 2007-2012 I lived in Vancouver WA
Fished / Hunted the Columbia on a regular bases via boat and occasionally from the bank all 5 years
Fishing occurred as far east as Rufus, OR and as far north as Longview WA (primarily in between the mouth of the Lewis and the Washougal)
Hunted the Lewis River Drainage and Washougal River Drainage all 5 years for Blacktail, Elk & Ducks

In my opinion, that ring was probably used on a canvas cover for barges that were carrying wheat or fruits from upstream.

sounds like a grommet?